Portable wall-screen.



W. UNSER @L H. F. MMER.

PORTABLE WALL SCREEN.

APPLICA-HUN FLE AUG. l5. 19H5.

n LQQSQQK LS l WILLIAM UN'GER4 AND HERMAN FMAIER, 0I." BUCYRUS, OHIO.

PORTABLE WALL-SCREEN.

Leccese.

Specification of Letters atent.

Patented @ein t,

Application filed August l5, 1916. Serial No. 115,07'22. I

To all lwhom, t may concern.

Be it known that We, WILLIAM UNGER and HERMAN F. MAIER, both citizens of the United States, residing at Bucyrus, in the county of Crawford and State of hio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable VVall-Screens, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to Wall screens and more particularly to such screens as are adaptable for use in Sunday school rooms, class rooms, in hospitals and in other like places Where it is desired to malte one room into separate or private compartments without obstructing ventilation or light in an appreciablemeasure, and to do away with the dividing partitions or screens topermit use of the room asa single compartiment-` An object of our invention is to provide a. screen of the nature setforth 'which can be constructed to be removably attached to a wall at one end, and to have the structure thereof disposed in a line from the Wall to t'orln a screen or temporary Wall to obscure the View, and which may be readily detached from the wall or other support on which it connected so that it can be en-` tirely removed frdnrtlieoperative connection, and can even 4"ne transported to be used at another point or in other locations.

A further object lies in so constructing theA screen that it is built up of a plurality of door or separate screen sections which are connected together to be capable of folding, and Which may be removably and interchangeably iittedso that the size of the screen can be varied.

Yet another object lies in providing means connected with adjacent sections otl the screen in such a manner that the various sec tions may be locked in varied extendcdposxtions and when brougrlitto the folded position Will be auton'iatically locked against ex tension movement until the lockingr means is manually released.

With the above and other objects in View, our invention consists in certain novel features of construction and'combinations of parts which will be hereinafter set torth in connection with thc dra Wings and then more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a vievv in top plan of a screen constructed after the manner of this invention,

F 3 is a top plan view with the various vsections of the screen told/ed.

Fig. et is a fragmentary view in elevation With parts in section to better illustrate the body of the stil'teners by which the sections o f the screen are held in the desired disposltion with respect to each other.

Fig. 5 is a top plan vieiv of the structure disclosed in Fig. st.

Fig. 6 is a. view similar' to-Fig- 5 but showing the two adjacent screen section-s folded to be right angularly disposed.

The several screen sections 1 may be constructed by having the frame Works 2 thejeot provided with the central liller 3 which might be one of the variously so called Wall boards, a fabric, or .other suitable material, or 'for that matter the screen sections l might he constructed to he solid. These various sections l are made rectantg'u` larin form and are hinged together at their edges by the hinges/d, which are preferalily of the loose butt type so that the various sections may be removably and interchange ably iitted in place in their hinged mountings. Thie members .l are connected together in the manner shown in li'it'. so that a plurality of the sections when connected together vvill form a screen ot some length, and a mounting` strip 5 is connected upon a wall, post, or other suitable support and has one of the end sections l hinged thereto to be capable of swingingmovement. It is preferable that the several sections 1 have the wheels or casters G at the corners thereof and thus the entire structure will be supportel on the floor or other structure adj accut to which it is extended, and by providingV the handle or pull 7 on the end portion, this end section may be moved to give the proper extension to the remaining hing edly mounted sections.

Each ot the sections 1 on its top edge adjacent to `one side has a groove 8 cut or otherwise :formed therbiiito, these `grooves being extended for sonic distance along the top-edge and lying parallel with the side faces ot' the members l.

Stitfener members 9 which are made prel erably oi metal rods havingsome resiliency arent thru' ends heut to extend 'substantially atari-lit angles to the line of extent of the Ulti main body portion and the right singularly bent end 10 has a bearing eye 11 formed thereon. The remaining end 12 ot the rod 9 as bent at right angles to the body portion is given another right angular bend so that it lies in right angular disposition to both the portion 12 and the portion t) at its eXtreme end as at 13. Aspin lt, or other suitable pivot means is mounted thronglrthe bearing 11 and is secured in the top edge of one of the Sections 1 so that the extreme opposite end 13 will be received in the groove 8 of the next adjacent ttiember '1. By this'iarrangement of the parts, the end i3 ot' the stiifening rod has movement in the groove 8 and the natural resiliency ot' the rod from which this member tris constructed tends to hold the lower end of the rod in engagement against ythe bottom ot' the groove, for which pi'irpose it is preferable that this end be provided with the ball. 14, as better shown in Fig. l. The socket openings 15 are sunk into the material ot' the members 1 at the bottom oi. the grooves 8 and socket liners 1G are mounted in these sockets to prevent wei. the members 1 are swung around their hinged mountings, the end 14 will travel on the bottorh ot the groove 8 and as the socket openings are encountered tlie rods will spring into these openings which will cause the, stitieners to hold the, adjacent screen sections against further swinging movement in either direction.

In thense of the device, the mounting strip 5 will be secured on a wall, postta piece of furniture, or any other desired point and the several sections or members to malte up the completed screen are hingedly connected together and are connected with the mountingstrip 5 through the hinges as above set forth. In this mounting ot' the sections l, the casters t5 will rest upon the [lot adja cent to the mounting strip 5 when the parts are. in the folded relation as shown in Fig,

3 and as the ends 115 ol thel stitl'ener members t) are. efiigaged in certain ot the sockets 15 formed in the bottom ot the grooves t. the several sections will he held in this tolded relation until the stitl'ener members il are manually released troni the secii i'ing positions when the. sectionsI 1 may be extended so that they will be. disposed in any angi'ilar relation with respect to each other up through the full extended relation as shown in l"ig. l wheretlie sections are in alinement and then when the parts have been brought to this relation the ends Il', ot' the stili'ener members will engage in still other oi' thc sockets and will consequently hold the sections 1 in the t'ull extended relation. lt will be understood that any number olsocket openings i5 might be provided in each ot' the. members and thus any number ol' angular settings of the screen sections might be accomplished, however, under ordinary eircuinstances where the casters (iV are resting on the Hoor and the ends 13 bear against the bottom ot' the grooves 8, the serein sections will be held against casual displacement from any angular setting in which they may be arranged, even though the ends 13 may not be engaged in the socket openings.

Fromv the foregoing it will be seen that we have constructed a wall screen structure, the individual members ot' which may be made in any height or width to suit the conditions which are to be met, and they may also bc constructed in various styles and ot' various materials to blend with the surroundings in which they are to be used, and that the screen is sanitary, seit-supporting, readily portable, and at the same time presents the structure in such 'form that screens ot' 'arious lengths may be constructed by taking a predeterininetl number of sections and connecting the same together by the insertion ot' the hinged butts and also the structure may be extended in various angular dispositioiis to torni entirely inclosed separate coniimrtmcnts, to t'orni partitions, or -in any other 'desired configuration.

While we have herein shown and described onlji one specific torni ot the structure, it

will be understood that various mechanisms might be employed in theI place ot' the stift'- eiier members, that the individual sections might be. constructed in other forms than herein shown. and that a number of modifications and changes might be resorted to in the t'orm and arrangement of the several parts without departing t'rom the spirit and scope ot' our invention, and hence we do not wish to be limited to the exact disclosure but only to suoli points as may be set t'orth in the claims.

\Ve claim:

1. A folding wall screen comprising a plurality oi sections hingedly connected together. said parts being so arranged that the various sections may be extended to be disposed in alinemcnt or may be disposed in various angular dispositions` grooves provided in each ot' said sections to torni guideways` sockets t'ormed at various points in conjunction with the grooves, stitleuing members pivotr` y mounted on each ot' said sections and provided with angularly disposed ends to be received in the grooves and slide therein as the sections are swung about their hinged mountings` the stitieiiing inembers having sullicieut resiliency so that. as the an '|ilar| \l disposed ends come into registry with the sockets this end will spring thereinto and will hold the sections in the desired adjusted positions.

2. folding wall screen comprising a plurality oi' sections.y hingedly connected togetlier. still'cning members pivotaily secured to said sections and capable ot' having 'horizontal swinging movement.. said stiftenmamas? in testimony whereof wr :rfiix our signan tures in presence of two witnoses.

WILLLAM Ul(f-1'ER. HERMAN F. TvAER.

ing members formed of spring" metal, each section provided with n plurality of adjusting sockets arranged therein, and each Sti ening member provided with a depending knob adapted to t Within one of said Sockets, means 'for detachably und automatically locking said Sections in various adjusted pov sitions with respect to euch other,

Wnesses:

(hns. F. ifyrrrmw, LUCILE S. mwls. 

